According to a spokesperson for the Da Nang Department of Tourism, Da Nang welcomed 2.47 million visitors over the first half of this year, up 11.1% compared with the same period last year.  Thanks to this, the city's tourism sector earned an estimated 7,177 billion VND in revenue, an increase of 15.5% against last year.

Some German travel agencies promoting tourism in the city

During this period, inspectors from the Department checked some of the city’s tourism companies and fined a total of 513.4 million VND for law violations.  They also imposed fines of 406 million VND on foreigners who had conducted illegal tourism activities in the city.  The licences for international travel services of the Landscape and Nature Love travel companies were suspended for 24 months.

Mr Ngo Quang Vinh, Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, stressed the need for the municipal authorities to set up a local tourism police force to ensure a healthy local tourism environment, and the safety of the large number of tourists arriving in the city.

The municipal People’s Committee Vice Chairman, Mr Dang Viet Dung, highlighted the significance of developing the city’s unique tourism products in order to attract more visitors from both home and abroad.

The city’s leader agreed to set up a rapid response tourism team which will be responsible for checking and imposing strict punishments on any foreigner who either conducts illegal tourism activities in the city or has an expired visa.  The Deputy Director of the Tourism Department will be the team’s leader, whilst representatives from the Police and Tourism departments will be deputy heads of the team.

Mr Dung emphasised that the focus should be on continuing to implement the city’s ‘Year for Culture and Urban Civilisation’ programme, tightening the management of local shopping, drinking and eating venues, and accelerating the construction of new airport, seaports and tourist boat piers in the city.